If you couldn't afford public, what would you do?

[Anonymous]

I have two children in charter schools in DC in to be frank OP, no, none of the public options in DC will get you an experience as good as the DC privates. By experience I mean facilities, extras, etc. I was in your position 3 years ago, and toured a number of private schools in DC and the beautiful campuses, libraries, extras like sports, music, etc. are wonderful and any child who can experience and educational setting is extremely lucky.

However, when it was gut check time and enrollment time I decided that my child (who has educated parents, does lots of enrichment already, and is also bright--brighter than my younger child) would do well in a number of charter schools and DCPS options. Her education occurs in and out of the classroom, and I can report 3 years in that she has nice friends (important to me) is still excited and loving school, and is doing wonderfully.

So my observation is that for total school experience the answer is a resounding NO-no school that is public in DC can provide the same experience as the top private schools. As for getting a good education? We are doing fine outside of private but may reevaluate for high school. If you want specific advice for schools you should look at--head to the DC public schools forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I couldn't afford a fancy elite private -- I would look at Catholic Schools even if you're not Catholic.

A lot of the Catholic schools are just as expensive as the others (e.g., Georgetown Prep and Georgetown Visitation)